[224] See Section VI.
[225] The author’s statement made in the Standard found objectors. Hr E. Magnússon impudently contradicted what he termed a contradictio in adjecto, apparently ignorant of the simple truth that neither logic nor Latin can affect facts and figures. It is amply confirmed by the Consular Report of 1870-71: “The stocks of domestic animals have shown a steady tendency to decrease, especially as regards the sheep flocks, which at times have been cruelly decimated by scab epidemics; the occasional failure of the grass crops exercises also a destructive influence on their herds and flocks generally, as they have no means at hand of substituting other fodder for the excellent wild pastures with which in ordinary years Nature supplies them so bounteously. These occasional epidemics and grass failures are bewailed by the Icelander as national calamities; but it is a question whether they may not prove to be the reverse, by opening his eyes to the necessity of devoting his energies and small capital to the better and more regular prosecution of the fisheries, which are boundless in extent, and less dependent on vicissitudes and seasons.”
[226] “Perhaps,” says Peirce (p. 29), “this is why the official statistics, with a sort of grim humour, number the ‘horned cattle’ at 23,713, while other authorities say there are 40,000 ‘cattle.’” He also quotes Dillon (p. 291) about four-horned and six-horned sheep—“quadricorns” are exceptional in Iceland as in most countries.
[227] More exactly the average yield of a one-year old is 1¼ lb.; of a two-year, 2½ lbs.; and of a three-year old, 3 lbs.
[228] Valued at a total of £2468, or about £5, 5s. a head. The prices will be considered in the course of the Journal.
[229] The steamer “Queen” in 1872 embarked 1030 head and the “Yarrow” 1414; these figures are given from the Scotsman. In 1873 the price had risen to £10 to £14, and the hire was a Danish dollar a day; thus the peasant was deprived of transport for himself and his goods.
[230] This is not the case with Norway, situated in the latitude of Iceland and Greenland, as the old rhyme shows:
“Sidst i Torri og först i Gio,
Skal Sild og Hval være i Sio.”
“At the last of Torri (first moon after Christmas) and first of Gio (the second moon),
The sillock (herring, Clupea harengus) and whale in the sea will show.”
Yet in Coxe’s time (late eighteenth century) the herring had disappeared from the shore, being found only in deep water; and Fortia (Travels in Sweden) tells us, that firing of guns was not allowed for fear of frightening the fickle fish.